Blue Ridge Preschool & Daycare

We trusted Blue Ridge Preschool & Daycare with our two-year-old son, but after our experience, I can’t recommend them. Our son came home limping and in pain and had to be seen at urgent care that day. Thankfully, nothing was broken, but no one could explain how he was injured. The daycare also refused to complete an incident report because they maintained that nothing happened while he was in their care. What bothered us most was how everything was handled afterward. During our meeting, we were given explanations that did not match what had previously been stated in emails. We were also shown video that appeared to show our son leaving the daycare already limping, and one of the owners acknowledged that he could see our son was limping. The lady, Angela, refuses to acknowledge it and redirects. No empathy. Despite that, the daycare continued to deny that anything happened while he was there and took no responsibility for what occurred. Instead of working with us to answer our questions, they ended our son’s enrollment and instructed us to communicate only by email. I understand that children get hurt. My concern is the lack of accountability, the conflicting information we received, and leaving without any explanation for how our child was injured. Based on our experience, I cannot recommend this daycare. Proceed with caution. And if you think your child is “just being a kid,” take it seriously and ask questions. I trusted the daycare to tell me if something had happened, so I didn’t immediately assume there was an injury. That was later used against me, by Angela (the director), as if I was somehow at fault for trusting the people I left my child with. Lesson learned. If something doesn’t seem right with your child after daycare, don’t ignore it **edit** Our concern has never been that our son was unable to walk when he left the facility; it has always been that he left walking with a noticeable limp, which was visible in the video reviewed during our meeting. During that meeting we never saw comparison video. During the same meeting, the co-owner acknowledged that our son was limping. We also received explanations that were inconsistent with previous communications regarding the available video footage. Finally, while the daycare states that it does not discuss confidential details regarding children, families, or enrollment decisions publicly, the owners have repeatedly discussed details of our family’s situation on social media, including our child’s age, prior daycare attendance, medical evaluation, staff statements, our enrollment, and information shared with them during private conversations, such as our concerns about previous childcare experiences. However they have since removed their reviews from their profile on Facebook. The owner can be found publicly making these remarks on her own business sites. We stand by our review, which accurately reflects our experience and our concerns regarding the lack of accountability, conflicting information, and the handling of our child’s injury…

My experience with this daycare raised serious concerns about their professionalism & judgment. Photos of my child were posted online against my wishes and were not removed until I sent a formal cease and desist. Previously, I asked the administrator several times to remove photos the photos. Not only did they NOT remove them, they blocked myself and my husband from their page so that we couldn’t see the photos. Very disturbing. Her refusal was appalling and her communication during the interaction was unprofessional, demeaning, and downright disrespectful. An interaction with the owner was particularly alarming. Rather than calmly addressing a simple situation, he refused to identify himself, began yelling, and called the police because I was parked in front of the school. There was no attempt at respectful communication before escalating the situation, which demonstrated extremely poor judgment and poor professionalism. This owner also got in my face trying to intimidate me, I am a female and the owner is a tall overweight male who was attempting to physically intimidate me, had to be told to back up several times..very scary. Based on my firsthand experience, the conduct and responses I encountered were deeply troubling. I would not recommend this school to anyone. They are one of the more “affordable” options in the area. You get what you pay for. Edited in response to owner: Their idea of “asking” me to move my car was an unidentified male honking the horn at me and screaming at me “that’s inconsiderate!”. Of course, I was taken aback at an unidentified male honking his horn and yelling at me. I asked him to identify himself, he refused other than to say very aggressively “I’m the owner!”, as I was getting in the car to leave he got out and decided that he was going to call the police and waste resources by calling the police on someone that was already leaving. It was NOT disrupting drop off of any children or families as “the owner” was the only person parked behind me. He also could’ve easily backed up and parked that way. This spin of events is laughable. Of course, if the “owner” had gotten out of his vehicle, identified himself, and addressed me respectfully, I would have apologized for being parked incorrectly. The fact that he dint do that and they are doubling down is even more cause for concern of their judgement and behavior. Also, notice how they did not address refusing to remove my child’s photo from their social media then blocking me and her father - because it happened. I sent them a cease and desist before they removed it, which they did not confirm. I had to confirm independently using someone else’s social media profile. The fact that it took all that to remove my minor child’s photos is very disturbing in my view. Also, that the “owner” finds it totally appropriate to behave this way. The lack of professionalism, customer service, and basic decency is astounding and particularly disturbing when their business involves care of children. I have documentation to back up these statements regarding my child’s photo misuse. So, my “characterization” is indeed factual. Parents, be cautious with these people.

We struggled for months to find the right daycare for our infant, and nearly a year for our toddler, trying different places without success. Finally, we settled on Blue Ridge, and we couldn’t be happier. The staff are not only friendly but also honest and genuinely committed to addressing concerns. They have a relatively stable team of teachers who are caring and attentive to each child. While they may not be perfect, Blue Ridge remains one of the best choices in the area.

Summary: unsafe care from profit driven daycare My daughter has been enrolled since August and within a month I was already feeling the instinct to pull her out. I decided to wait it out because I thought it was just taking time to get used to “GA state policy” coming from an out of state daycare. My daughter never had issue with diaper rash until this daycare. She had it so bad that she literally blistered. I asked several times for the daycare to apply cream at each change and it wasn’t until she was injured in a separate event that they took me seriously. That injury was my daughter coming home with a bruise that was on her upper thigh near her diaper line. I never got an incident report because the teachers didn’t even notice. When I got her home and changed her, I immediately reported it to the daycare. They didn’t know what happened and had even offered to view the security footage. Because they had to view the whole day’s footage and I was being persistent on wanting to know what happened to my child, eventually the owner told me that if I wasn’t able to trust the daycare that I should look to find care elsewhere. This situation was never resolved (which in part is due to the hurricane that happened, but even after recovery, they didn’t try). I had begun looking for care elsewhere and found a place; however, in her last week, Monday she comes home with a large red abrasion on her forehead. The teachers “didn’t notice it”. They didn’t file an incident report and then said that she maybe was rubbing her head on the carpet (although she’s never done this before and the abrasion is on her hairline so she’d practically be standing on her head). I thought an unidentified injury being sent home would maybe make them more cautious, but the following day, she fell off of a table outside and bruised and scraped her head (to what I think is pretty bad). They did notify us. There was also a day that I came in and my daughter was laying on the floor crying hysterically next to the teacher. She didn’t not even look at my daughter or offer to console her when we came in, but just let us go pick her up off the floor. The last thing I have noticed about this daycare is that they are often out of ratio. Not during the day or maybe when the state visits, but I dropped my daughter off early one morning and there were approximately 12 kids in a 1:8 classroom. Not my cup of tea.

My 2 and 3 year olds go here. We absolutely love it. Since day one, my children have been so happy to begin their day. The staff goes above and beyond and has helped me in so many ways, including communicating with me how my kiddos day is going, and helping me navigate medical records. I'm beyond blessed to have this opportunity for my children to learn and grow here. They have helped with potty training, speech development, and so much love and support. Thank you Blue Ridge preschool & daycare, we love you guys and hope to continue going here for quite some time. ❤️